Cheslie Kryst, a correspondent for the celebrity news program “Extra,” who won the Miss USA title in 2019 while working as a lawyer, was found dead in New York on Sunday. She was 30.
The body of Mrs. Kryst was found Sunday morning in Midtown Manhattan, and her death was being investigated as a suicide, Lt. Thomas Antonetti, a spokesman for the New York City Police Department, Monday.
“Extra”, which also announced her death, yielded a statement from her family that Ms. Kryst said “embodied love and served others, whether through her work as a social justice advocate, as Miss USA, and as a host” on the show.
Ms. Kryst joined “Extra” as a correspondent in the fall of 2019 and later earned two Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Entertainment News Program for her work, according to Variety.
In the hours before her death, Ms. Kryst shared a photo of herself on Instagram with the caption, “May this day bring you tranquility and peace.”
Cheslie Kryst was born on April 28, 1991, in Jackson, Michigan, and moved to Charlotte, NC, when she was a toddler, according to a SouthPark Magazine profile. She later graduated from the University of South Carolina with a business degree, then earned an MBA and a law degree from Wake Forest University. In 2017, she joined Poyner Spruill, a law firm based in North Carolina, where she specialized in civil litigation. The company said in a statement on Sunday that Ms. Kryst was “a passionate advocate both inside and outside the courtroom.” After she was crowned Miss USA, she and Poyner Spruill agreed that she would take a sabbatical, and she later left the company, according to her managing partner, Dan Cahill.
Although Ms. Kryst worked as a lawyer for some time, she was no stranger to beauty pageants. Her mother, April Simpkins, was crowned Mrs. North Carolina. “My mom was the second Black Mrs. North Carolina, so I knew either way, I would be in,” Ms. Kryst told DailyExpertNews in 2020.
Ms. Kryst began her pageant career as a teenager and won the Miss Northwestern pageant while in high school. In 2019, she was crowned Miss North Carolina and won Miss USA, making her the oldest contestant ever at age 28. She later represented the United States at the 2019 Miss Universe competition, finishing in the top 10.
In the midst of an emerging career that required long days, Ms. Kryst told The Times in December 2019 that time off was key to balancing her busy schedule, which included traveling for events like Miss USA and maintaining her blog, White Collar Glam, where she discussed affordable workplace fashion.
Mental health was also a priority for Ms. Kryst, who said in a Facebook video in 2019 that she spoke regularly with a counselor. “When I’m not talking to my therapist, I take time out at the end of each day to relax,” she said. “I’m pulling the plug. I turned my phone off. I don’t answer messages. I just sit and watch my favorite movie.”
Ms. Kryst also used her rise to fame and stage presence to make a statement about diversity. Describing herself as a black woman of mixed race, she told The Grio in 2019 that she intentionally wore her hair natural during the Miss USA pageant. “Winning with my natural hair was very important to me because I thought, this is the way my hair grows out of my head,” she said. “I should be fine to wear my hair like this.”
In an essay published last year by Allure magazine, Ms. Kryst reflected on the challenges of aging and challenging conventional thinking about women’s looks and opinions. “A squinted-eyed grin at my achievements so far makes me dizzy as I lay the groundwork for more, but turning 30 feels like a cold reminder that I’m running out of time in the eyes of society. do – and it’s infuriating,” she wrote. “After a year like 2020, you would think we had learned that growing old is a treasure and maturity is a gift that not everyone can enjoy.”
Mrs. Kryst is survived by her parents and five siblings.
In the United States, if you have suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at: 800-273-8255 (VOICE) or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources. To go here for sources outside the United States.
Christine Hauser reporting contributed.
